USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume I > Part 29
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95
To give an idea of the immensity of these pigeon roosts. I quote from the Elk Advocate as late as May, 1851 :
"The American Express Company carried in one day, over the New York & Erie rail- road, over seven tons of pigeons to the New York market, and all of these were from the west of Corning. This company alone have carried over this road from the counties of Chemung, Steuben and Allegheny fifty-six tons of pigeons." As late as March, 1854, they came in such clouds for days that I have tired looking at them and hearing the noise of the shooters.
Nets were used in the war against the pigeons with great effect, one man in Pennsyl- vania catching five hundred dozen in one day. and this was by no means a solitary case. The demand for squabs was responsible for much slaughter. The young pigeons were
shaken from their nests, and those not large enough for the table were left on the ground for the hogs to fatten upon.
Michigan exterminated the passenger pig- eon. It is a shameful story. In 1869 three carloads of dead pigeons a day, for forty days, 11,880,000 birds, were shipped from Hartford, Mich., to market.
The last passenger wild pigeon that will ever be handled by man was taken near De- troit, Mich., September 14, 1908, by a Mr. C. Campion. Eleven North American birds have been exterminated.
The copper and the bloody goshawk, the great-horned and barred owl, like other night wanderers, such as the wild bear, panther, wolf, wildcat, lynx, fox, mink and agile weasel, all haunted these roosts and feasted upon these pigeons. The weasel would climb the tree for the pigeons' eggs and the young, or to capture the old birds when at rest. The fox, lynx, mink, etc., depended on catching the squabs that fell from the nests.
Like the buffaloes of this region, the wild pigeon was doomed. The extermination of the passenger pigeons has gone on so rapidly that they are now extinct, like the dodo and the great auk. Thirty years ago wild pigeons were found in New York State, and in Elk, Warren, Mckean, Pike and Cameron counties, Pa., but now they are gone as migrants.
The wild pigeon lays usually one or two eggs, and both birds do their share of the in- cubating. The females occupy the nest from two p. m. until the next morning. and the males from nine or ten a. m. until two p. m. The males usually feed twice each day, while the females feed only during the forenoon. The old pigeons never feed near the nesting places, always allowing the beechnuts, buds, etc., there for use in feeding their young when they come forth. The birds go many miles to feed, often a hundred or more.
The last big flight of wild pigeons occurred in 1882. The vast flocks of these birds, which a generation ago were the ornithological won- der of the world, have entirely disappeared. and at two o'clock p. m. on September 1, 1914. the last individual died in the zoological gar- dens at Cincinnati. It was a female and was hatched in captivity twenty-nine years ago. A standing offer of five thousand dollars for another has been unclaimed for years.
In the spring of 1877 three pairs of pas- senger pigeons were procured for the Cin- cinnati Zoo at a cost of two dollars and fifty cents per pair. For several years, beginning in 1878. these birds continued to breed, until
142
JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
the usual result of close in-breeding became manifest. Various other species of doves were introduced by Mr. Stephans in an effort to keep up the stock, but without avail ; they died one by one, until, in 1910. only a single pair was left, and in that year the male bird passed away, leaving the female as the last living rep- resentative of the species.
Pigeons. do not drink like any other bird. They drink like the ox or cow, and they nourish the young pigeon for the first week of his life from "pigeon milk," a curd-like substance secreted in the crop of both parents profusely during the incubating season. We had but two varieties-the "wild" and turtle- doves.
Of our birds, the eagle is the largest, swiftest in flight, and keenest eyed. the humming bird the smallest, the coot the slowest, and the owl the dullest.
The spring birds, such as the bluebird, the robin, the sparrow and the martin, were early to come and late to leave.
Migrating birds fly over distances so great that they must needs have great strength as well as great speed in flight. Bobolinks often rear their young on the shore of Lake Win- nipeg, and, like true aristocrats, go to Cuba and Porto Rico to spend the winter. To do this their flight must twice cover a distance of more than two thousand, eight hundred miles, or more than a fifth of the circumference of the earth, each year.
The little redstart travels three thousand miles twice a year, and the tiny humming bird two thousand. What wonderful mechanism it is, that in a stomach no larger than a pea it will manufacture its own fuel from two or three slim caterpillars, a fly, a moth or a spider, and use it with such economy as to be able to propel itself through the air during the whole night at a rate of about fifty miles per hour, and at the same time keep its own tem- perature at about one hundred and four de- grecs.
The Baltimore oriole is one of the most beautiful and best-known birds. Its long. pendant, woven nest is known to every one, and it is wonderful how the bird, with only its beak, can build such a splendid structure. Orioles have been known to use wire in the structure of their nests.
The meadow lark, one of the largest of this family, is a wonderful singer, sitting on a fence rail, caroling forth its quivering silvery song. All these birds, except the oriole, walk while hunting food, and do not hop as most birds do.
Our birds migrate every fall to Tennessee, the Carolinas, and as far south as Florida. Want of winter food is and was the cause of that migration, for those that remained surely pick up a poor living. Migrating birds return year after year to the same locality. In migrating northward in the spring, the males precede the females several days, but on leaving their summer scenes of love and joy for the South the sexes act in unison.
Of the other pioneer birds I will only men- tion the orchard oriole, pine grosbeak. rose- breasted grosbeak, swallow, barn swallow, ruff- winged swallow. bank swallow, black and white warbler. chestnut-sided warbler. barn- owl. American long-cared owl, short-eared owl, screech owl, great-horned owl, yellow- billed cuckoo, black-billed cuckoo, kingbird, crested flycatcher, phoebe bird, woodpewee, least flycatcher, ruffed grouse (pheasant or partridge ), quail, also known as the bobwhite. marsh hawk, sparrow hawk, pigeon hawk, fish hawk, red-tailed hawk, horned grebe, loon, hooded merganser, wood duck, buff-headed duck, red-headed duck, American bittern, least bittern, blue heron, green heron, black-crowned night heron, Virginia rail, Carolina rail. American coot, American woodcock, Wilson's snipe, least sandpiper, killdeer plover, belted kingfisher, turtle dove, turkey buzzard, whip- poorwill, nighthawk, ruby-throated humming bird, bluejay, bobolink, or reed or rice bird, purple grackle. cowbird (cow bunting), red- winged blackbird, American grosbeak, redpoll, American goldfish or yellow-bird, towhee bunt- ing, cardinal or redbird, indigo bunting, scar- let tanager, cedar or cherry bird, butcher bird or great northern scarlet tanager, red-eyed vireo, American redstart, cootbird, brown thrush, bluebird, housewren, woodwren, white- breasted nuthatch, chickadee, golden-crowned knight.
A pair of English sparrows were brought to Brookville in 1876 by G. W. Andrews.
Natural Life of Some of Our Birds
Years
Raven
100
Eagle
100
Crow
.100
Goose
50
Sparrowhawk
40
Crane
24
Peacock
2.4
Lark
16
Pheasant
15
Partridge
15
Blackbird
IO
Common Fowl
10
BLUE JAY
R.K
٢
.RY
1
x
Sאי
143
JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Years
Robin IO
Thrush
IO
Wren .
5
Pigeon, Wild or Passenger. 30
Domestic Fowols
In 1910, in the United States, there were 280,340,000 chickens in the land, with a total value of $140,200,000. The turkeys num- bered 3.688,000, while there were 2,904,000 ducks, 4,432,000 geese, 1.765,000 guinea fowls and 2,730,000 pigeons.
BEES
Wild Bees-Bee Hunting-Bee Trees-Bec- Food-Etc.
In pioneer times these woods were alive with bee trees, and even yet ( 1915) that con- dition prevails in the forest part of this region. "Although the natural range of bee pasturage in this section is practically unlimited, singu- lar to relate, apiculture is not pursued to any great extent. With all the apparently favor- able conditions, the occupation is too uncer- tain and precarious to hazard much capital or time on it. At the best, apiculture is an arduous occupation, and in the most thickly populated farming communities it requires constant vigilance to keep track of runaway swarms. But in this rugged mountain coun- try, with its thousands of acres of hemlock slashings and hardwood ridges, it is virtually impossible to keep an extensive apiary within bounds. The rich pasturage of the forests and mountain barrens affords too great a temptation, and although the honey bee has been the purveyor of sweets for the ancients as far back as history reaches, she has never yet become thoroughly domesticated. At swarming time the nomadic instinct asserts itself. Nature lures and beckons, and the first opportunity is embraced to regain her fast- nesses and subsist upon her bounty. Never a season goes by but what some swarms escape to the woods. These take up their habitation in hollow trees or some other favorable re- treat, and in time throw off other swarms. Thus it is that our mountains and forests con- tain an untold wealth of sweetness, but little of which is ever utilized by man.
"Here is the opportunity of the bee hunter. In the backwoods counties of western Penn- sylvania bee hunting is as popular a sport with some as deer hunting or trout fishing. It does not have nearly so many devotees, per-
haps, as these latter sports, for the reason that a greater degree of woodcraft, skill and patience is required to become a proficient bee- hunter. Any backwoodsman can search out and stand guard at a deer runway, watch a lick. or follow a trail; and his skill with a rifle, in the use of which he is familiar from his early boyhood, insures him an equal chance in the pursuit of game. It does not require any nice display of woodcraft to tramp over the mountains to the head of the trout stream, with a tin spicebox full of worms, cut an ash sapling, equip it with the hook and line, and fish the stream down to its mouth. But to search out a small insect as it sips the nectar from the blossoms, trace it to its home, and successfully despoil it of its hoarded stores, requires a degree of skill and patience that
STRAW BEE-SCAP
comparatively few care to attain. Yet in every community of this section are some old fellows who do not consider life complete without a crockful of strained honey in the cellar when winter sets in. Then, as they sit with their legs under the kitchen table while their wives bake smoking-hot buck- wheat cakes. the pungent flavor of decayed wood which the honey imparts to their palates brings back the glory of the chase. When- ever a man takes to bee hunting he is an en- thusiastic devotee, and with him all other sport is relegated to the background.
"There are many methods employed in hunt- ing the wild honey bee. The first essential is a knowledge of bees and their habits. This can only be acquired by experience and intel- ligent observation. The man who can suc- cessfully 'line' bees can also successfully 'keep' them in a domestic state, but a successful apiarist is not necessarily a good bee hunter. "September and October are the best months for securing wild honey, as the bees have then in the main completed their stores. At that season they can also be most readily lined. for the scarcity of sweets makes them more susceptible to artificial bait. But the profes-
144
JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
sional bee hunter does not. as a rule, wait until fall to do all his lining. He wants to know what is in prospect, and by the time the honey bee suspends operations for the winter the hunter has perhaps a dozen bee trees located which he has been watching all sum- mer in order to judge as near as possible as 10 the amount of stored honey they contain. li the hunter wants to save the bees he cuts the tree in June and hives the inmates in the same manner as when they swarm in a domes- tic state. Many swarms are thus obtained. and the hunter scorns to expend any money for a swarm of bees which he can get for the taking. As a matter of course, when the honey is taken in the fall the bees, being despoiled of their subsistence, inevitably perish.
"I'll gather the honey-comb bright as gold, And chase the elk to his secret fold.
"The first warm days of April, when the snows have melted from the south side of the hills, and the spring runs are clear of ice, find the bee hunter on the alert. There is nothing yet for the bees to feed upon, but a few of the advance guard are emerging from their long winter's hibernations in search of pollen and water, and they instinctively seek the water's edge, where the warm rays of the sun beat down. Where the stream has receded from the bank, leaving a miniature muddy beach, there the bees congregate, dabbling in the mud. sipping water and carrying it away. The first material sought for by the bees is pollen, and the earliest pasturage for securing this is the pussy willow and skunk cabbage, which grow in the swamps. AAfter these comes the soft maple, which also affords a large supply of pollen. Sugar maple is among the first wild growth which furnishes any honey. Then come the wild cherry, the locust, and the red raspberries and blackberries. Of course, the first blossoms and the cultivated plants play an important part, but the profusion of wild flowers which are honey bearing would prob- ably supply as much honey to the acre as the cultivated sections.
"The wild honeysuckle, which covers thou- sands of acres of the mountain ranges with a scarlet flame in May, is a particular favorite with bees, as is also the tulip tree, which is quite abundant in this section. Basswood honey has a national reputation, and before the paperwood cutters despoiled the ridges and forests the basswood tree furnished an almost unlimited feeding ground. This tree blooms for a period of two or three weeks, and
a single swarm has been known to collect ten pounds of honey in a day when this flower was in blossom. Devil's club furnishes another strong feed for bees, as well as the despised sumach. Last, but not least, is the golden- rod, which in this latitude lasts from August until killed by the autumn frosts. While these are the chief wild-honey producing trees and plants, they are but a fractional part of the honey resources of the country.
"Having discovered the feeding ground and haunts of the wild honey bee, the hunter pro- ceeds to capture a bee and trace it to its habi- tation. This is done by 'lining,' that is, fol- lowing the bee's flight to its home. The bee always flies in a direct line to its place of abode, and this wonderful instinct gives rise to the expression, 'a beeline.'
"To assist in the chase the hunter provides himself with a 'bee-box,' which is any small box possessing a lid, with some honey inside for bait. Arrived at any favorable feeding ground, the hunter eagerly scans the blossoms until he finds a bee at work. This he scoops into his box and closes the lid. If he can capture two or more bees at once, so much the better. After buzzing angrily for a few moments in the darkened box the bee scents the honey inside and immediately quiets down and be- gins to work. Then the box is set down and the lid opened. When the bee gets all the honey she can carry she mounts upward with a rapid spiral motion until she gets her bear- ings, and then she is off like a shot in a direct line to her habitation. Presently she is back again, and this time when she departs her bearings are located and she goes direct. After several trips more bees appear, and when they get to working the bait and the line of their flight is noted. the box is closed when the bees are inside and moved forward along the direc- tion in which they have been coming and going. The hunter carefully marks his trail and opens the box again. The bees are apparently un- conscious that they have been moved, and work as before. This manœuvre is repeated until the spot where the swarm is located is near at hand, and then comes the most trying part of the quest to discover the exact location of the hive. Sometimes it is in the hollow of a dead tree away to the top; sometimes it is near the bottom. Again, it may be in a hol- low branch of a living tree of gigantic pro- portions, closely hidden in the foliage, or it may be in an old stump or log. To search it out requires the exercise of much patience. as well as a quick eye and an acute ear.
"To determine the distance of the impro-
145
JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
vised hive after a line has been established from the bee-box the hunter resorts to 'cross- lining.' This is done by moving the box when the bees are at work in it some distance to one side. The bees as usual fly direct to their home, the second line of flight converging with the first, forming the apex of a triangle, the distance between the first and second loca- tions of the box being the base and the two lines of flight the sides. Where the lines meet the habitation is to be found.
"Different kinds of bait are frequently used in order to induce the bees to work the box. In the flowering season a little anise or other pungent oil is rubbed on the box to attract the bees and keep them from being turned aside by the wealth of blossoms along their flight. It is a mistake to mix the oil with the bait, as it spoils the honey the bees make and poisons the whole swarm. Sometimes in the early spring corncobs soaked in stagnant brine proves an attractive bait, while late in the fall beeswax burned on a heated stone will bring the belated straggler to the bee-box.
"Cutting a bee tree is the adventuresome part of the sport. An angry swarm is a for- midable enemy. Then, too, the treasure for which the hunter is in search is about to be revealed, and the possibilities bring a thrill of anticipation and excitement. So far as the danger goes the experienced hunter is pre- pared for that, and protects his head and face by a bag of mosquito netting drawn over a broad-brimmed hat. With gloves on his hands he is tolerably protected, but sometimes a heavy swarm breaks through the netting, and instances are on record where bee hunters have been so severely stung in despoiling wild swarms as to endanger their lives. In felling a tree great care must be exercised in order that the tree may not break up and destroy the
honey. Sometimes trees are felled after night, as bees do not swarm about in the darkness, and the danger of getting stung is not so great.
"The amount of honey secured depends upon the age of the swarm. Frequently much time and labor have been expended in lining and cutting a tree which yielded nothing, while again the returns have been large. There are instances in this community where a single tree yielded over two hundred pounds of good honey. Not long since a hunter cut a tree in which a hollow space about eighteen inches in diameter was filled with fine honey for a length of fifteen feet. Often a tree is cut which has been worked so long that part of the honey is spoiled with age. Often the comb is broken and the honey mingled with the decayed wood of the tree. The bee hunter, however, carefully gathers up the honey, wood and all, in a tin pail, and strains it, and the pungent flavor of the wood does not in the least detract from the quality in his estimation.
"Bee hunting as a sport could be pursued in nearly every section of western Pennsyl- vania, particularly in the lumbering and tan- nery districts. In these sections thousands of acres are annually stripped of timber, extend- ing many miles back from the settled districts. Fire runs through these. old slashings every year or so, and a dense growth of blackberry and raspberry briers spring up. These, with the innumerable varieties of wild flowers, af- ford a rich and vast pasturage for the honey bee which has thrown off the restraints of civilization. Swarm upon swarm is propa- gated, the surplus product of which is never utilized. With a little encouragement bee hunting might become as popular a form of sport with the dweller of the town as with the skilled woodsman."
10
CHAPTER IX
THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY
ORIGIN-NEGRO SLAVERY IN PENNSYLVANIA-UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IN PENNSYLVANIA AND JEFFERSON COUNTY-WHITE "SLAVERY," REDEMPTIONERS AND INDENTURED APPRENTICES - IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT, ETC.
And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death .- Exod. xxi. 16.
White slavery is older than history. It is supposed to have originated in kidnapping, piracy, and the practice of taking captives in war. Christians enslaved all barbarians and barbarians enslaved Christians. Early history tells us that Rome and Greece were great markets for all kinds of slaves, slave traders, slave owners, etc. The white slaves of Europe were mostly obtained in Russia and Poland in times of peace. All fathers could sell chil- dren. The poor could be sold for debt. The poor could sell themselves. But slavery did not exist among the poor and ignorant alone. The most learned in science, art and mechan- ism were bought and sold at prices ranging in our money from one hundred to three hundred dollars. Once sold, whether kidnapped or not, there was no redress, except at the will of the master. At one time in the history of Rome white slaves sold for sixty-two and a half cents apiece in our money. These were cap- tives taken in battle. By law the minimum price was eighty dollars. AA good actress would sell for four thousand, and a good physician for eleven thousand dollars. The state, the church and individuals all owned slaves. Every wicked device that might and power could practice was used to enslave men and women without regard to nationality or color ; and when enslaved, no matter how well educated, the slaves possessed no right in law, were not deemed persons in law, and had no right in and to their children. Slavery as it existed among the Jews was a milder form than that which existed in any other nation. The ancients regarded black slaves as luxuries, because there was but little traffic in them until about the year 1441, and it was at that date that the modern African slave trade was
commenced by the Portuguese. The pioneer English African slave trader was Sir John Hawkins. Great companies were formed in London to carry on African traffic, of which Charles II and James II were members. It was money and the large profits in slavery, whether white or black, that gave it such a hold on church and state. The English were the most cruel African slave traders. In the year A. D. 1620 the pioneer African slaves were landed at Hampton Roads, Virginia, and nineteen slaves were sold. In one hundred years, from 1676 until 1776, it is estimated that three million people were imported and sold as slaves in the United States. In 1790 there were 697,681 African slaves in the Middle States. In 1861 the United States had four and a half million.
NEGRO SLAVERY IN PENNSYLVANIA
He found his fellow guilty-of a skin not colored like his own; for such a cause dooms him as his lawful prey.
In 1664 we read of negro slaves in Dela- ware, which afterwards became a part of Pennsylvania.
Negro slaves were held in each of the thirteen original States.
Slavery was introduced in Pennsylvania in 1681, and was in full force until the act for its gradual abolition was enacted in March, 1780, by which adult slaves were liberated on July 4, 1827, and the children born before that (late were to become free as they reached their majority. This made the last slave in the State become a free person about 1860. As late as 1860 there was still one slave in Pennsylvania ; his name was Lawson Lee Taylor, and he belonged to James Clark, of Donegal town- ship, Lancaster county.
In 1774 Pennsylvania had 10,000 slaves ;
146
147
JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
in1 1700, 3,737; in 1800. 1,706; in 1810, 795; in 1820, 211 ; in 1830, 403; in 1840, 64; in 1860. in Lancaster county, I.
In March, 1780. Pennsylvania enacted her gradual abolition law. Massachusetts, by con- stitutional enactment in 1780, abolished slavery. Rhode Island and Connecticut were made free States in 1784, New Jersey in 1804. New York in 1817, and New Hampshire about 1808 or 1810. The remaining States of the thirteen, viz., Maryland. Delaware, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, each retained their human chattels until the close of the Civil war.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.